I recently took a trip to Zurich. As luck would have it, my hotel was across the street from a Gun shop. So I just had to duck in one afternoon and see what they had. Prices were kind of interesting. Here’s what I saw.
First, when in Switzerland, ya gotta look at Sigs, no? So I priced the comparable models to ours stateside. In general all the models were more expensive than in the US, although they weren’t the New Hampshire machined slides that we get here. In general they were of comparable quality – I wouldn’t say the euro stuff was really any better. (But I’m not a Sig expert, either. P220 was about 800 bucks, as well as the 226. Basically all the line ranged from 8-900 bucks with one exception – the P210. You can pick up a new P210 for about $1150-1200 over there. Used ones in very good shape for under a grand. Aaaargh!
Saw an Argentine/Hartford Colt for about $450. Not much interest in the 1911 there. Mostly people buy 9mm. Saw a box of 50 9mm Remington brass priced about 15 bucks! Ammo appears to be pretty expensive. Also saw a mini 30 and a mini 14 priced about 800 bucks each, and a Colt AR in a preban configuration for about 900 bucks.
Asked what they have to do to own and there is a permitting process through the local police that issues a buying permit and you have 60 days IIRC after issue of the permit to buy up to 2 guns.
While I was there I picked up a couple of sets of wood grips for a couple of my Sigs. The Kingwood grips for my 220 are especially good looking. They are made by Nil for Sig. Fitting them was a 3 hour project as a lot of fitting was required. Maybe the euro 220 is slightly different? Don’t know. Whatever the case they’re on the gun now and look pretty good.
So our friends in Switzerland have some good guns available and can buy them through a process that is more onerous than here (except maybe in NJ, Maryland, and New York). Was kind of fun to look around, price stuff, and talk to the guys in the shop.
First, when in Switzerland, ya gotta look at Sigs, no? So I priced the comparable models to ours stateside. In general all the models were more expensive than in the US, although they weren’t the New Hampshire machined slides that we get here. In general they were of comparable quality – I wouldn’t say the euro stuff was really any better. (But I’m not a Sig expert, either. P220 was about 800 bucks, as well as the 226. Basically all the line ranged from 8-900 bucks with one exception – the P210. You can pick up a new P210 for about $1150-1200 over there. Used ones in very good shape for under a grand. Aaaargh!
Saw an Argentine/Hartford Colt for about $450. Not much interest in the 1911 there. Mostly people buy 9mm. Saw a box of 50 9mm Remington brass priced about 15 bucks! Ammo appears to be pretty expensive. Also saw a mini 30 and a mini 14 priced about 800 bucks each, and a Colt AR in a preban configuration for about 900 bucks.
Asked what they have to do to own and there is a permitting process through the local police that issues a buying permit and you have 60 days IIRC after issue of the permit to buy up to 2 guns.
While I was there I picked up a couple of sets of wood grips for a couple of my Sigs. The Kingwood grips for my 220 are especially good looking. They are made by Nil for Sig. Fitting them was a 3 hour project as a lot of fitting was required. Maybe the euro 220 is slightly different? Don’t know. Whatever the case they’re on the gun now and look pretty good.
So our friends in Switzerland have some good guns available and can buy them through a process that is more onerous than here (except maybe in NJ, Maryland, and New York). Was kind of fun to look around, price stuff, and talk to the guys in the shop.
